“What we’re looking for is just an image of Edmonton on a given day. It’s a little bit like a snapshot of your family, not your formal holiday shot, but that snapshot at the lake that just becomes so precious when you look back on it two years later, because you remember what you look like and what you were doing and what that day felt like,” said Zwicker.

Zwicker, who is an English professor at the University of Alberta, says the movement is also part of a digital storytelling research project.

“One of the things that’s interesting about this project is that people are always afraid that social media takes us away from our everyday lives,” she said. “But what we’re demonstrating, what we’re learning from this project is that actually social media is part of people’s everyday life, that experiences are even more special for the fun, easy way that you can share them with your fellow citizens.”

Using the hashtag #YEGlongday, organizers are asking people to tweet their pictures, videos and stories until midnight Saturday.